The Chinese markets are experiencing a surge in new exchange traded fund offerings. With new market reforms, China’s fund sponsors are quickly filling up sector plays.
According to Dai Hongkun, chief analyst at Shanghai Securities’ fund research centre, more fund companies have applied for bulk sector ETF filings after a new ruling that lifted restrictions on the number of funds a company can apply to launch, reports Glori Ye for the Financial Times.
For instance, China Universal Asset Management filed to launch four sector ETFs based on the CSI Main Consumption, CSI Medical, CSI Energy and CSI Financial and Real Estate indices back in March.
E Fund Management also filed for seven ETFs that track CSI 300 Index sectors, such as Nonferrous Metal, Non-Bank Financial, Main Consumption, Bank, Energy, Medical and Real Estate indices in April.
“We have seen a lot of ETFs tracking general indices in the market such as the CSI 300 Index, and now we need segmentation for those ETFs,” Hongkun said in the article. “It’s hard for fund managers to beat the market by active management, and there is also demand from investors for passive products.”